Maintaining Your Weight is The Real Challenge

How to Successfully Maintain Your Ideal Weight

It may have taken a long time to get here, but now you have reached your ideal weight, how can you now ensure that the weight stays off? Unfortunately for some people, maintaining their weight is just as hard for them as it was losing it! Luckily though there are ways in which you can maintain that weight, it is all about mind control!

Keeping Control of Your Body by Keeping a Clear Mind

The main thing that you have to remember when trying to maintain your ideal weight is that if you suddenly go back to eating how you did before you went on a diet, you will gain all the weight back again. Now, that may sound fairly obvious to most people but for some, they simply think their diet is over and everything goes back to normal. A diet should be a lifestyle choice so it really should be something you can carry on, even after you have reached your ideal goal. The kind of diets which allow you to do this are ones which generally lower your portions, get the body used to different foods and then gradually introduce those foods back into the diet which tends to change your eating pattern. Once your eating pattern has been changed you no longer have cravings as often as you used to, hence you do not overeat again.

Now, that isn’t to say that you have to eat nothing but fruit and vegetables for the rest of your life. You can still have the odd occasional treat; after all you are no longer on an actual diet. However, you need to know in your mind how much you are eating. The thing about maintaining a healthy weight is that you exercise and burn a certain amount of calories each day.

Finally, a common myth which many dieters believe is that their weight will just keep dropping if they carry on with their diet. Now really it all depends upon the diet, but usually you are still eating a good amount and you will only lose weight until you reach your ideal goal, then you will find it much harder to lose weight so you would have to try harder to lose it. Obviously you won’t be trying harder; you will in fact be loosening up a little, so you really shouldn’t have to worry about losing extra weight once your target goal is reached.

Overall it all depends upon your own personal circumstances but keeping the weight off is hard work. You still have to stop yourself from having those extra treats. You also still have to eat healthily and exercise regularly. Sometimes people get so fed up of living a healthy lifestyle that they do go back to their junk food days for a while, but many people go back to eating healthily again after they have slipped up. It is all about controlling your mind and controlling those junk food urges. If you manage to successfully do that you will easily keep the weight off.

Healthy Weight Loss

Whilst we may think that all weight loss is good, sometimes it can be extremely unhealthy. So just exactly how do you tell the difference between healthy weight loss and unhealthy weight loss?

What is Unhealthy Weight Loss?

Unhealthy weight loss is generally weight loss which can cause many different health problems. Quick fix diets are usually included in unhealthy weight loss as they tend to cut certain foods out of the diet and that is certainly not good for you. Not only does this lack of food group affect our energy levels and other bodily functions, but once you introduce that food back into the diet your body will be confused and that is when the weight will come straight back on.
Once the weight does come back on people generally start another diet and the process starts again. This constant yo-yo dieting can cause health problems and it can cause the body to put on extra weight as it feels it is starving. Every time that the weight comes back on, it actually makes it harder to lose it again. So, it is always better not to take part in so called quick fix diets. There are healthier ways to lose weight!

Healthy Weight Loss and How to Enforce It

Healthy weight loss tends to include exercise, a healthy diet and plenty of sleep. Most people know that regular exercise keeps weight off and that a healthy diet makes it easier to burn that extra weight off, but not many people realize that their sleeping patterns also make a difference.

Basically the more tired that you are, the more junk food that you will eat in order to try and get your sugar levels up. So, always ensure that you get enough sleep for you as well as eating properly and exercising regularly.
Healthy weight loss is more of a lifestyle choice than a simple diet. There is no need to cut anything out of the diet and you can even allow yourself one day a week where you can eat whatever you like. This helps to keep your motivation going throughout the week as you know that you will be able to eat whatever you want soon enough.

You should also set yourself realistic weight loss goals. Many people think that they will be able to lose plenty of weight in a relatively quick amount of time if they simply stick to their diet and exercise regime. However, weight loss does take time and so you need to take that into account whilst you are making those goals for yourself.

Overall you need to stay focused, get enough sleep, exercise regularly and set realistic goals if you want to lose weight healthily. It is hard work but it will all be worth it in the end. Remember that weight loss is not a race and it will take at least a couple of months to see good results.

Author: Jessica Hall

To read more about slimming news, diet plans and natural weight loss supplements visit her website.